Chocolate Lab Tattoos.

George Orwell was really on to something back in 1984 when he wrote from The Animal Farm that Big Brother is watching.

You see, Al Gore's information super-highway is so super, that Blogger runs these reports and provides stats so I can see how many people read my blog, the cities and countries where my blog is being read, and the traffic sources of how folks stumble upon this little blog o' mine. News Flash: 2012 is the year of the nerd. It's going to be MY year.

Because I am not a regular blogger, some days I have 3 readers, other days no readers, and then other days like 60 or so. The numbers confirm what I've always known: I'm keeping my day job.

For the life of me I can't figure out why anyone from Australia, Russia, Denmark, Germany, Singapore, or Spain wants to read my blog. Yet, folks from those countries are reading it. And now a message for these visitors in particular: "Hello friends, please don't form your opinion of the United States and its citizens based on what you read here. Or see on TMZ. Sincerely, Just Me...HP." I get traffic from cities and states all across the US too. Primarily Georgia, which is not surprising given my own coordinates. But there's also New York and California and points in between. You know, I didn't even realize that the internet had made it to Kansas yet, but it seems that it finally did back in the summer.

Numbers and cities are fun, but what I find to be most interesting is the traffic sources. The most common link is Facebook. Next, from other blogs that have my blog linked to theirs. But it's the Google search results that I love. For example, just this week people found my blog after searching the following: Chocolate Labs with Crayons and Chocolate Lab Tattoos. I'm intrigued. Like, I wonder if the person was searching what happens when a Chocolate Lab eats crayons. My dog has eaten practically everything, but praise Jesus he's never tried crayons. They are the gateway drug to Sharpies, you know. And then what's with the Chocolate Lab Tattoos? Does this person want a tattoo of a Chocolate Lab? As much as I love my dog, the teeth marks in the legs of my dining room chair is permanent reminder enough of his presence in my life. To the person out there considering a tattoo of a Chocolate Lab: Proceed with caution because when the next canine companion comes into your life and it's a Poodle, she's going to be quite cranky when she is constantly eye-level with that big loyal Lab plastered on your calf that you look at too as a regular reminder of what you once had.